


Under the Sea

by Kereea



Series: Only AUs Can Be Happy [6]
Category: A Song of Ice and Fire - George R. R. Martin, Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, M/M, Ramsay is his own warning, Robb's a Mermaid, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-26
Updated: 2014-08-26
Packaged: 2018-02-14 21:16:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2203377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kereea/pseuds/Kereea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU: They say a mermaid scorned will kill their former lover if they ever find them in the sea again.<br/>Theon Greyjoy is counting on it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Under the Sea

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so there's these great Throbb Mermaid!Robb pictures on tumblr by pinkypirate and I just HAD to write something for them! Search Throbb on their page, it'll be some of the first ones up.  
> Seen them? Awesome! So you can see I just had to write something!

“You can’t be serious,” Asha said.

“Just…just do it, all right?”

“You really expect this to happen,” his sister muttered. “You…you really expect…that a mermaid’s going to show up and kill you.”

Theon nodded.

Asha tucked her hair behind her ears, “And…and what am I to tell tell Mother?”

“Tell her I scorned a mermaid, of course.”

“You didn’t…you didn’t _scorn_ anyone, idiot.”

“It’s close enough. And I think he’ll think I did.”

“Isn’t that a mer _man_ then?”

“Fuck if I know. He never corrected me on it, at least.”

The little rowboat bumped against the rocks.

“I…I don’t know what to say,” Asha sighed.

“Say goodbye,” Theon said simply. “You…you’ll be a good queen. For the Islands. You know, if you listen more to Uncle Rodrik than the other two.”

She frowned as he stood, “Theon, wait-”

“Look, marry Tris and keep Qarl on the side. Make Tris take your name, though, that’s important. And…and be nice to Dagmer. I kind of almost ruined things for him too, didn’t I?” Theon mused.

“Theon-”

“Asha. I want to _die_ ,” Theon said firmly. “After…after all that…I just want to die.”

“Like this?”

“He has a right to it,” Theon said. “And…and it’s still on my own terms. Because I want it.”

“…Don’t make us see it,” she said.

“I won’t go in until after you’re sailing off,” he promised. He’d never make her watch that.

“All right. If you’re sure.”

“I’m sure,” he said, hopping off the boat and onto the rock. He was careful not to slip, not to put so much as a single digit in the water.

“What is dead may never die,” Asha said, sitting down and taking the oars.

“We do not sow,” Theon replied, pushing the boat as hard as he could with his foot to give her some help.

He did not touch the water, even the bits that splashed up as the boat pulled away.

“It won’t be long,” he said softly. “Won’t be long until she can’t see. Just…just wait for me, Robb.”

.o.o.o.

Theon was barely twelve when he met a mermaid.

They’d been sailing back from Harlaw and an unexpected squall had hit. He’d been told to tie a certain rope down.

He fell off the ship instead.

He’d tumbled down into the sea, saltwater filling his lungs almost at once since he’d been screaming when he’d pitched overboard.

The next thing he knew, he was on a small jetty and someone was shaking him so hard it hurt.

“Please be okay, please be okay, you’re only a kid, please be okay-”

He’d yelped and shoved them away, only to gape once his eyes were open.

The man was very pretty, with blue eyes and red hair and freckled skin. But was was really eye-catching was the deep blue tail that spouted from his hips. “You…you’re…you’re a…a…”

“Mermaid? Yeah, good, you can see,” the man teased.

Theon wanted to ask why a man called himself a maid but was more focused on, “I’m alive.”

“So you are,” the man said. “…I’m Robb?”

“What?”

“Seemed the thing to do. Introductions.”

“Theon Greyjoy,” Theon said.

“Oh…that’s a big name around here, isn’t it?” Robb asked. “Important?”

“The Greyjoys rule these islands,” Theon said as imperiously as he could.

Robb laughed and briefly stuck out his tongue, “Well _we_ rule the water around them so there.”

“You do not!”

Robb laughed at him, “Calm down, Theon. We don’t care if you humans want to think you control the seas. It’s fine.”

“I…I need to get home. My family will worry.”

“Well, I’d have taken you to the appropriate island, I swear, but they all seem much the same to me,” Robb said, shrugging. “I just went for the closest.”

The closest? “Is there a large tower here that looks like it’s made of other towers?”

“…I think so,” Robb said. “Why?”

Harlaw, then. “This…this should be fine, then. My uncle lives here. He can write to my family.”

“Oh. So you’ll be fine then?” Robb asked.

“Yes. Thank you…I’m not sure if there’s anything you need…”

“You were a little boy in trouble. No need to repay me,” Robb said.

“I’m not a little boy. I’m twelve!”

“…Little boy,” Robb teased, pushing off the jetty and into the surf.

.o.o.o.

Theon got home only to find out that his brother Rodrik had died in the storm.

“Because _you_ couldn’t tie a stupid rope,” Maron said darkly.

“I…I tried to-”

“Trying’s not doing!” Maron snapped.

“Ignore him,” Asha advised. “He was always close to Rodrik. And it wasn’t the stupid rope anyway.”

But it was hard to ignore Maron when his father seemed to agree and Theon just didn’t know what to do anymore.

One day he went down to the shore, and found a cove where no one else would look for him just so he could cry.

“What’s wrong?”

Theon yelped and slipped into the water. As his head went under he saw strong arms and a long blue tail before his head was pulled above the surface.

“We need to stop meeting like this,” Robb teased. “And again, what’s wrong?”

“I…my brother died. In the same storm you saved me from.”

“I’m sorry,” Robb said.

“And…and my father and other brother clearly wish it had been me instead-”

“Why?” Robb asked.

“Rod…Rodrik was the _heir_ ,” Theon explained.

“So?”

“So he was more important!”

“So you deserved to die?” Robb asked, setting Theon up on the rocks before pulling himself up.

“If it meant he’d live, probably.”

He flinched as Robb smacked him over the head.

“Well you’re wrong and they’re wrong. So there.”

“But-”

“No buts,” Robb said firmly. “You have as much right to live as anyone. You’re a child for crying out loud, no one should say such things to you.”

“But they do. They always will.”

“Not always, little kraken,” Robb said, hand splayed across the sigil on the front of Theon’s tunic. “Not always. And for now not me.”

.o.o.o.

Somehow Robb became his best friend. Whenever Maron was too obnoxious, whenever Theon couldn’t bear his father’s disappointment or neglect, whenever there was no one who could be bothered, he found himself at the seashore with the mermaid.

“Have you ever met the Drowned God?” Theon asked.

“I cannot say I have,” Rob shrugged. The way the sun danced over his freckled, muscular shoulders as he moved them had been drawing Theon’s attention more and more lately.

“I only ask because, well…my uncles says when I man dies in battle he goes to the Drowned God’s hall and there they fuck mermaids,” the young teen replied.

Robb laughed, “Oh, so that’s how it is!”

“I only as, because…well, mermaids are supposed to be…lots of thing I don’t think I should call you,” Theon said because calling one’s friend a lascivious, overeager slut could not end well. “And you’re not.”

“I…won’t say I can’t be passionate. With the right person,” Robb said. “But…we’re not exactly…oh, how to put this? Compatible, physically. With humans.”

Theon forced himself not to blush at that information. “But…there’s so many tales of mermaids as lovers.”

“We make very good lovers,” Robb said. “You just can’t…well, fuck us.”

Theon was a young boy who had recently discovered the joys of putting his cock in someone and…that sort of confused him. But then he and Robb had been close for years and Theon would hate to lose him…and they’d certainly never fucked. And apparently couldn’t.

Theon ignored the feelings stirring in his stomach. “That’s interesting. Then why do you think all the stories mention fucking?”

“Please, so many of the men up here could never admit to _love_ , much less love without getting to bed the other person,” Robb scoffed.

“I’m so sorry we’re all too pathetic for your tastes,” Theon huffed, shoving Robb slightly.

Robb’s tail, resting in the water, suddenly flicked, sensing some water right into Theon’s face.

“Not all of you. Some of you can be quite amusing,” Robb teased.

“Amusing?” Theon sputtered.

Robb smiled and leaned their heads together. “Among other things.”

Theon watched silently as his friend swam off. He knew he was human and Robb wasn’t and surely that made them different but he still felt justified in considering his friend strange.

.o.o.o.                                        

“What other odd things do you landwalkers say of us?” Robb asked.

“They say eating the flesh of a mermaid that still lives grants unusually long life.”

“Well, _we_ do live a long time,” Robb said.

Theon had to agree. Robb had not aged a day while Theon was nearing fifteen.

“But it doesn’t work. Any fool who takes our skin and then and there eats it on his ship…they’ll die,” Robb said.

“A curse?”

“We may just be poisonous,” Robb teased. “But…perhaps. There is magic out there, far more magic than any one person can know…”

“I’d rather keep the magic we have here,” Theon said, wrapping an arm around Robb’s shoulders.

.o.o.o.

Theon didn’t know what was wrong.

He sat on the edge of the dock, his feet in the water, like he had been doing for the past half hour.

He couldn’t do this for too long. He might have been beneath his father and Maron’s notice, but someone else might go looking for him.

This was…unusual. Robb tended to show up within minutes of him touching the water, especially when he and Theon had managed to set up the length between their meetings beforehand.

“Robb, please,” he said quietly. “If you’re mad at me, well, I don’t know…I don’t know what I did, but I’m sorry…”

Some water hit him dead in the face.

After he was done sputtering and wiping his eyes he looked up to see an angry mermaid glaring at him.

“Get out of the water,” Robb said sharply.

Theon did as asked, pulling his legs and up and folding them on the dock, “Robb-”

“How _dare_ you come back here,” Robb said. “How dare you…after you…”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Theon said. “I really don’t-”

“Like hell you don’t. You think I didn’t see you, as close to the water as you were?”

Hat really didn’t narrow it down…he spent a _lot_ of time close to the water. “Robb, I don’t know what I did. I swear.”

Robb grabbed the dock to push himself up a bit, but it was nothing like the times before when he’d been all smiles and chatter. “I saw you with her!”

“Her?” He knew a lot of hers. Asha, his mother, the serving girls…whores… Oh.

He’d been with a whore last week. He’d been lonely. And rather…frustrated.

And they’d taken a walk near the beach while discussing what she could do for him. “Robb what was just a whore. I barely even remember the sex, much less-”

“Then what am I?” Robb asked darkly.

“…What?”

“I come when you call, don’t I?” Robb asked hatefully.

“Robb, are you…jealous?”

Robb snarled and flicked his tail, sending more water into Theon’s face. “Don’t go calling me again.”

What? No, he couldn’t lose Robb! Theon grabbed his arm as he went to leave, “No! No, you-”

“Let _go_ of me,” Robb hissed, pulling back. But Theon didn’t let go and tumbled forward off the dock.

Robb quickly pulled his head above water, “What is wrong with you? First you…a-a-and then you-”

“Robb, I barely remember her. It didn’t mean anything I…I was just frustrated.”

“Something was frustrating you so you…”

“I wanted _sex_ ,” Theon hissed in Robb’s ear. “That is _all_ I wanted. You really think I could ever replace you?”

“What?” Robb asked blankly.

“I can’t lose you,” Theon said. “Sometimes…sometimes it feels like you’re the only _good_ thing in my life. I can’t lose you…”

“You…I…I need some time to think,” Robb said, pushing him back towards the docks. “Don’t…don’t come around for a few days…”

“Robb, Robb please…”

“Just go,” Robb said before diving under.

.o.o.o.

He’d been an idiot. Of course taking a whore by the shore would seem to Robb like Theon was flaunting her at him…and, and maybe they’d never talked about the feelings between them but Robb was a mermaid and they took these things seriously…

So he gave Robb a whole week before going to the sea again, this time claiming he wanted to go row somewhere to strengthen his arms. Naturally Dagmer and Victarion both approved of such exercise and sent him off without a second thought.

He just rowed out to and around some rocks before leaning back in the boat and letting one hand fall into the water, eyes closed in worry.

The boat rocked slightly as something pulled the left side.

Theon smiled when he opened his eyes. Robb was hanging off the side of the boat. “Hey.”

“Hi,” Robb said. “I…I supposed I should have…given you your say.”

“I…Robb, she meant _nothing_. I just needed a release.”

Robb sulked, “Then why the walk?”

“With Pyke whores you usually want to work out what you’ll be doing beforehand so they don’t try to overcharge you and you don’t get to underpay them and no one pulls a knife on anyone,” Theon replied.

“Even on a Greyjoy?”

“Maron got attacked once. For trying not to pay at all, so frankly he deserved it…”

Robb snickered for a moment.

Theon frowned, thinking of what he’d been thinking for days, before leaning close to kiss Robb.

A wet hand went over his mouth.

“You…you don’t know what you’re getting into,” Robb warned. “Mermaids…we’re not like you humans, Theon. You cannot enter a relationship with us and then just leave. You’d be mine forever, and if you betrayed me…”

“I’ve heard the legends,” Theon said. Of men who’d been with a mermaid and then forgotten her and married someone else, of how they were fools who set foot in the sea again and were ripped to bits. “But…but you’re what I want. For as long as you’ll have me.”

“Not for ‘as long as’ Theon, forever,” Robb said firmly. “Do not think I’ll treat you well, should you ever try to abandon me.”

Theon smiled before reaching out and grabbing Robb’s upper arms. It took some effort—because Robb was all muscle and muscle was heavy—but he pulled the mermaid into the boat with him.

“Why would I do that?” he asked before kissing him.

.o.o.o.

“And…and you said we couldn’t do it…” Theon muttered, looking up at the stars.

“That wasn’t exactly copulation. That was me sucking your-”

“It counts. It really fucking counts,” Theon panted, pulling his mermaid close.

“I hope it helped,” Robb said, lying beside him on the rock.

“Robb, it helped, all right?” Theon said. “And…and it’s not like I’m sad he’s gone, because I’m not, I’m just…just…I mean I’m heir now.”

“If you go the way of your brothers, dead before twenty-five, I won’t be pleased,” Robb muttered.

“I just…I don’t know what to do. I was never taught in case something happened. I don’t know…”

“They’ll make you wed, won’t they?” Robb asked bitterly.

“Likely to some girl I’ve never met,” Theon agreed, knowing his voice sounded just as dark. “Would that I could wed and have a child with you instead, my treasure.”

“I’d need to be female. And have legs,” Robb replied.

“I’d never change you, though,” Theon said, cupping his cheek. “But I can promise that she will mean nothing to me.”

“..When they’re old enough to be trusted to keep quiet, bring your child by,” Robb said. “I’d love to meet them.”

“Really?”

“They’d be your child, a piece of you to love after you’re gone. And so I have a description so the mermaids I’m friendly with know if they _don’t_ save your child from drowning I’ll rip their arms off and their dorsal fins out,” Robb said.

“Thank you,” Theon said. “But I think I’d rather establish my credibility as a raider first.”

“I hate how long it takes you to get home sometimes…months. I hate being without your for months!”

“Well, this is a simple raid on the North that I’ll be on next,” Theon said. “Less than a month if we’re lucky. No more than two even if we aren’t.”

“Good,” Robb said. “I’ll be waiting, m y pirate.”

.o.o.o.

Theon sighed as the ship finally got too small to see properly. It had taken far too long, and the cold winds were making his bones ache.

Still, he wanted to do this right. He slipped off his boots, ignoring how bad his feet looked, and rolled the legs of his pants and the sleeves of his shirt up, ignoring how battered the skin seemed on his legs and arms. He set aside the cloak and removed the gloves, his missing fingers once more visible to the world.

Maybe Robb would be so quick he wouldn’t see how badly mangled Theon was.

Theon could hope couldn’t he?

He took a deep breath to steady himself and slid off the rock into the water.

.o.o.o.

Robb went very still.

“What is it?” Jon asked. “Robb, what’s wrong?”

“You know nothing, Jon,” Ygritte scolded her lover. “He’s back.”

“Who’s back—Robb!” Jon said, reaching futilely as Robb took off like a shot.

But Robb didn’t heed him. All he could hear was an echo of Ygritte’s words in his own thoughts. _He’s back he’s back he’s mine his blood his mine his body is mine he is mine…_

He didn’t know how he knew where he was going, just that he did. The anger and rage welled up within him for the man who left him, who _dared_ toy with his feelings…

And he’d been fool enough to fall in the sea again? Robb would have his head, his blood, his very _flesh_ …

The sun was setting as he closed in on his prize in the cold water but something…something was wrong.

Theon knew the legends well. He would not stay in the water long if he could help it, and there was a perfectly good rock…true, Robb could likely climb it, but Theon would be a fool not to try…

But no, he was hanging onto the rock without pulling himself from the water.

Like the fool he was.

Robb slowed down, wanting Theon to know, wanting him to recognize just who was about to kill him.

But something was very wrong. Theon…it had been years, yes, but only a few, not enough to turn his hair to gray. Humans aged quickly, that was true, but not _that_ quickly…and he seemed smaller, too and…what was he saying?

“It doesn’t rhyme, not the one that rhymes, you know your name, you know it,” Theon whispered, eyes screwed tight. “You know it, just…just hang on…let him have _you_ not the one that rhymes…”

Robb shoved Theon so the man would face him, not caring at the cry as Theon’s head stuck the rock.

Theon’s eyes opened and Robb waited hungrily for the terrified resignation…

But Theon only smiled, “Robb.”

Robb’s eyes narrowed and he wrenched Theon from the rock, his grip likely bruising the man’s arms, before tossing him into open water.

Except the idiot didn’t bother trying to surface.

Growling, Robb dove down to drag him up again. He wanted Theon sorry, not happy. Wanted him terrified, not content!

He heart stuttered in his chest when he saw Theon under the water, though.

His feet were mangled. His arms and legs were badly-damaged skin and bones. He was missing three fingers. And he looked so fucking _happy_.

Robb seized him, pulling him to the surface.

Theon had never been so light, not even as a child. Something was very wrong here.

He pushed Theon up onto the rock as best he could, pulling himself up after.

This…this wasn’t what he wanted. He wanted revenge, his blood craved it and sang for it but _this_ …

This was not revenge.

“We…have to stop…meeting…like this…”

Theon’s eyes were glassy and half-lidded, but they seemed to see Robb all the same.

“What were you doing?” Robb demanded.

“Giving…giving you…what was yours…”

All at once the bloodlust died. No scorner, no betrayer thought their death a mermaid’s due.

“You wanted me to kill you.”

“You…had the…right…”

Theon’s breathing was too shallow. He’d been in the cold water for a while, why wasn’t he shivering? Humans shivered, right?

“Stay with me. I want answers!” Robb snapped, snatching the cloak from the rock and wrapping it around Theon as best he could while still pinning him down. “Why did you leave?”

“Was…was supposed to be just a raid…”

“You _came back_ from those!” His tail lashed in agitation. “And you came back fucking _whole_!”

“Got…captured…was an idiot…”

Robb felt cold. Theon…Theon hadn’t willingly stayed away? He…he hadn’t hurt Robb on purpose? Gods…if he hadn’t slowed down…Theon would be nothing but a ripped-apart carcass and Robb…he’d never have known…

The frowned, “But…why…why haven’t you…?”

Robb bit his lip. “Did you love me?”

“Yes.”

“Do you…do you still?”

Theon nodded, a pitiful expression on his face.

“What am I to do with you?” Robb sighed.

“I…then you…you won’t kill me?”

“No.”

Theon actually looked a bit distressed at that. “Then…then this was for nothing?”

“You didn’t mean to break my heart. And now I know that. So no, not for nothing,” Robb said, lying down on the rock and curling around Theon. “Just…just rest. I can swim you home later, all right?”

Theon shook his head.

“No?” Robb asked. “Why?”

“Robb…I…you don’t understand…”

“Then help me.”

“After what happened…all I wanted…all I wanted was to give you what was yours. To die so you could…could…whatever mermaids get when they kill those who wrong them. I was ready to die.”

Theon wanted to die? Robb bared his teeth as he leaned over his foolish lover.

“You have given me what is mine, then. Your life. And I will make sure you keep fucking living it!”

“Please. Please, Robb, you…you can’t be that cruel.”

Cruel? “Saving your life is _cruel_ now, is it?”

“Robb…Robb please. I don’t…I can’t live like this. You…you don’t know…it’s taken all I have to stay together this long…he _broke_ me, Robb.”

Robb’s teeth gnashed at the mention of this other man. “Then I’ll fix you!”

“Robb…Robb please, please…I’m slipping already, I know I’m slipping please…I can’t let you see me like that.”

“Like what?”

“No…no…not the one that rhymes,” Theon muttered, screwing his eyes shut. “No, no, it’s not that, not that…”

“Theon?” Robb asked.

“You have to know your name!” Theon hissed, his eyes suddenly very wide.

Wide and not seeing Robb at all. Theon was shaking in fear at something that wasn’t there with them. “Please…”

“What?” Robb asked.

“Please, please, no, no, I know my name, I know it…”

“Theon, look at me,” Robb begged, shaking him. “Theon, Theon please!”

Theon gasped and seemed to see him again, “Robb?”

Robb nodded, not sure he had anything he could say.

“Oh gods. I…I can’t believe I just…gods, I never wanted you to see me like that,” Theon whispered. “I’m so sorry. So sorry…”

“It’s okay. It’s okay,” Robb said. “It’s all right, Theon, you didn’t want to, it’s all right.”

“No it’s not!” Theon cried. “Robb, Robb please, I don’t want to die as…as _that_ , I want to at least die as myself, please…”

Theon just broke right there in his arms.

Robb couldn’t kill him. He was a mermaid, they were creatures of passion, of emotion, they didn’t kill the ones they _loved_ only the ones they hated.

But…but he had another idea. He didn’t know how Theon would take it…

So he wouldn’t tell him.

“Okay,” Robb lied instead. “Okay, Theon, okay.”

He knew he was crying even though it was a lie. Gods, his Theon wanted to die…

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” Theon whispered, wiping away the tears. “I’m so sorry I have to ask you to…”

“Take…take your clothes off,” Robb said.

Theon did as he said, Robb helping him with some of the ties and buttons when his damaged hands started to fumble.

“Oh Theon,” Robb whispered as he saw his lover’s body. “Theon…”

Theon simply smiled. “You…you’re so beautiful…”

Robb knew for a fact that he looked a mess when he cried this hard. “I…I…Theon…” He collected himself. “Get in the water.”

Robb pushed himself off the rock, Theon sliding back into the water as he resurfaced.

He could see Theon’s breath misting over the cold water.

“Robb?”

So much of him prayed Theon was having second thoughts, but the expression his lover wore told him otherwise.

.o.o.o.

Robb was so beautiful, even with tears reddening those pretty blue eyes. Theon reached out and cupped his cheek.

“I…I want…I want you to remember this,” Theon said. “Okay?”

“Remember what?” Robb asked, voice raw and pained.

Theon leaned closed and took a deep breath. He didn’t want his last words to Robb to shake too badly, he wanted Robb to remember something _good_. “I will _always_ love you.”

Robb stared at him as he pulled back. After a moment a small, sad smile curved those sweet lips and he nodded.

Theon jerked as Robb shoved him under. Two strong arms wrapped around his torso as Robb dragged him down further and Theon was getting dizzy from the lack of air…

He felt two soft lips forcing his open and suddenly he had air again.

He opened his eyes.

Robb’s were closed as he swam further downward, but his gills were moving faster than Theon could ever recall seeing them.

He was giving Theon air, letting him breathe.

Theon ran his fingers down Robb’s back gently, hoping to get his attention.

Robb’s eyes opened. Apparently he could see Theon’s confusion, since they went soft very quickly and he briefly loosened his grip to cup Theon’s face with one hand.

Even though Theon could breathe he was quickly losing his ability to see as they went deeper.

Theon just realized something horribly wrong with whatever Robb was doing when he started to shake.

Because he was naked and cold in the dark with someone larger and stronger holding him tightly. And he never, _never_ wanted to compare Robb to Ramsay but, but…

How did he know it was Robb, really? How did he know he hadn’t dreamed of the rescue and Ramsay dying and everything? He couldn’t see anything!

He thrashed but the arms held him tight. He tried to pull away from whoever was kissing him but they wouldn’t let him, wouldn’t let him get away, get away— _no, no, Ramsay, please, no-_

“It doesn’t rhyme,” the person breathed against his lips, their voice reverberating in his skull. “N-not the one th-that rhymes, right Theon?”

Theon went limp at the voice. Robb. Still Robb.

His back hit sandy rock. The seafloor?

He was shaking all over now. The water was too cold, too cold, his hands and feet were going so numb and his eyes burned and the weight of the water pressing down on him was so heavy…

Robb could apparently still see since a hand gently ran down Theon’s side before patting his cheek reassuringly.

Robb pulled away, leaving Theon with no air again.

Theon didn’t mind. There was something oddly…satisfying about this. No one but Robb around to see him, not even himself. The water flowing around him as Robb’s tail slowly swung back and forth…

Something pressed against his lips. It wasn’t something he really recognized as ever being near his mouth before but he let Robb put it in, saltwater rushing in with it. Some cultures had things in the dead’s mouth as funeral rites or something, right?

The texture was familiar though…he could have sworn he’d touched something similar with his hands before…it was shredded to bits, whatever it was

He choked when he tasted the blood on it. He suddenly recognized the ridged texture.

It was once of the smaller fins from Robb’s tail.

He tried to spit it out even though his world was spinning from not having any air but Robb tilted his head back and rubbed his throat, making him swallow it…

Everything went black.

.o.o.o.

Theon awoke to someone humming and fingers running through his hair. He felt so warm and safe, too…

He opened his eyes.

Robb was lying beside him, eyes closed, curls gently rolling about in the water as he hummed.

Water? That…that didn’t make sense, Theon couldn’t sleep underwater…

Robb opened his eyes and smiled when he saw Theon was awake.

Suddenly all thoughts of figuring out what was going on left Theon’s mind. In fact, all ability to think left it entirely.

Without knowing why Theon lunged for Robb, crushing their lips together and digging his fingers into Robb’s hips while rolling his own against Robb and yes, yes, _yes_ , this was his, his, and everything was _perfect_ because Robb was _his_. He clawed at Robb’s back wanting more, more-

Theon jerked away as he came back to himself. What was he doing? He’d…he’d _never_ just jumped Robb like that before.

Robb cupped his face, smiling, “It’s okay. We’re creatures of _passion_ , Theon. That happens. I know I’ve pounced on you often enough…”

We?

Theon looked down, his jaw falling open.

Starting at his hips were scales, shiny black scales that turned into a thick tail with silvery fins.

Fins…

“Robb!” he cried, spotting the missing fin on Robb’s tail, midway down. “What…what did you…you…”

“I saved you,” Robb said softly. “I don’t mind. It’ll grow back.”

“Robb,” Theon said, reaching for him only to realize a tail was different from legs and he was having trouble swimming over to Robb with it.

Robb closed the gap himself and pulled Theon close, “It’s fine, Theon. How do you feel?”

Well, the gills on his sides seemed to be working…the tail wasn’t jerking so much right now…the short fins on the backs of his forearms were interesting, Robb didn’t have those…

Wait. He had ten fingers. His skin was unmarred. The hair floating by his head was dark.

“You…you…how did you…?”

“Remember the tales about the flesh of a mermaid granting long life?” Robb asked. “It does. Like this.”

“You said it was poison.”

“If eaten on land or otherwise above water,” Robb agreed. “Theon? Theon why are you crying?”

“I’m whole,” Theon whispered. “I’m whole again, I mean, _Robb_.”

He wrapped his arms tightly around his lover.

“I love you,” Theon whispered. “I love you so much, Robb…”

“I love you too,” Robb replied.

Theon had always loved hearing Robb say that but now, not it made him just shudder at the very feeling of it, the affection and lust dancing through his veins.

“Did…did saying I love you…always make you feel like I do right now?” he asked, trying to force his head straight.

Robb smiled and blushed deeply, giving him his answer.

Theon grinned, running a hand down Robb’s face and neck before settling it on his shoulder.

“See? I said I’d always love you,” he teased.

“You’re an idiot,” Robb chuckled. “A handsome idiot, but an idiot.”

“Your idiot.”

“Yes,” Robb agreed, pulling back and circling him. “Mine.”

“Yours,” Theon agreed, watching his beautiful lover swim around him. They must have been in the shallows, because the sun was shining through the water enough to dance along Robb’s hair. Theon wondered if that was what fire would look like underwater.

Robb took his hand, “Let’s go.”

“Go where?” Theon asked.

“Wherever,” Robb said.

“I…we should…we should probably go by Pyke soon. Let my sister know I’m alive,” Theon said. “Say goodbye.”

“If that’s what you want,” Robb said, pulling him along since Theon still didn’t quite have his tail working.

“Robb?”

“Yes?”

“You…you said mermaids aren’t compatible with humans…physically. Are…are we, I mean…well, of course we should be, but…you know, with each other?”

Robb paused smiling, “Do you want to?”

Theon very quickly found himself unable to think again as he nodded.

**Author's Note:**

> I kinda thought, after thinking about the bit in the books where Victarion thinks of how the Drowned God rewards those who fall in battle and then how some other fans wondered "but how would you fuck a mermaid anyway?" that maybe humans and mermaids can't actually have sex (beyond blowjobs/other oral from the mermaid for the human, as Robb demonstrated). Despite that, mermaids are highly emotional and lustful creatures, which also makes then very, very jealous since they know if they're human's getting sex it's not with them. And that's where the whole "they'll kill you if you scorn them" comes in.  
> Theon's having issues at the end with his attention span because mermaids can be very flighty and emotional (hence the instant Robb-pouncing) in regards to things beyond lovers or close friends/family. So means his attention span is also probably too short to remember Ramsay for long!


End file.
